Weekend in Branson

 A few weeks ago we decided to make an overnight trip to Branson.  I booked the hotel and we were off!  Eli was trying to act cool but he was so excited to be going to Branson and staying in a hotel.  This child loves hotels.

 The day we arrived we went straight to White Water

Our friends Kristin and Lee and their kiddos met us at White Water.  Eli was so excited his best friend, Tyler, was there to play with him!

After a long day at the water park we went to the Branson Landing to eat dinner.  We love going there and walking around, eat dinner and grab dessert!

Eli was exhausted from a long day in the sun and water.  Dinner was a little interesting but we all made it through!

After a good night's sleep at the hotel we grabbed breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We can't go there without a game of checkers.

After breakfast we headed to Silver Dollar City.  We've never stopped at the cow but I talked Eli into checking it out.  You can milk the fake cow.  I even tried it!

We spent the majority of our time at the ball pit of course!  Eli loves this part!

Chad took Eli on the log ride for the first time.  Eli LOVED it!  I have a feeling there will be many more log rides!  If only you didn't get so wet...

The weather was absolutely perfect and the parks weren't overcrowded.

It made for perfect Branson weekend!

4th of July

 This was the first year that Eli has really enjoyed fireworks.  He couldn't get enough!

 We started the day off by going swimming at the Springdale Aquatic Center.  Eli was trying to pretend he was sleeping in the car.

The weather was absolutely perfect!  No humidity and the temp was in the low 80's!  Not normal for Arkansas in July!

We ended the day with having friends over for dinner and more fireworks.

 

Then we went to watch a local firework display... my favorite thing to do on the 4th of July!

Picnics

The weather has been wonderful this summer.  Very mild and not too humid.  Not our norm for the south, but I'll gladly take it over the 100 degree heat!  The weather was perfect one day so Eli and I were playing outside.  We decided to have an impromptu picnic in the yard.  We both had a fun time! 

 What was on the menu?  Leftover pizza and yogurt of course!

And some chocolate graham crackers for dessert

I'm going to miss these days when summer is gone :)

The 2nd Annual Evans Farm Trip

 Last year we made a trip to the farm with Chad's family.  We enjoyed it so much we decided it must become an annual trip!

We headed to Forrest City with our car packed for the week.  As soon as we hit the gravel we let Eli get out of his car seat and climb in the front seat with us.  He thinks this is such a big deal!

 Eli was so happy to be at the farm.  And so were we!

 We saw the combines working in the wheat fields when we first arrived.  Eli was able to drive one!  He was in heaven!  This boy is obsessed with tractors and construction equipment!

There was crazy thunderstorm while we were there!  It was really cool to watch it move in.  And then a rainbow followed!

The day after we got there, Chad's brother and his family arrived from Connecticut.  Eli was so excited to see Grant and Lily!

There are hummingbird feeders all around the deck.  We tried so hard to get pictures of them.  Those little things are fast!  This is the best I could do.

Jigs loves going to the farm just as much as we do.  He runs as fast as he can in the yard.  I wish we had somewhere for him to run like this at home.

The kids loved playing with the slip 'n slide

One night we went to Memphis for dinner at the Rendezvous.  These two are always acting silly!

Cousin love

More tractor riding with Uncle Chance

What's a summer without watermelon?

 

And what's a summer without catching frogs?

As you can tell, we had a wonderful and relaxing time!

Shave Ice

 One of my favorite things about summer is shave ice.
When we lived in Hawaii we were spoiled with the best shave ice ever!  I've been trying to find a local stand that comes close to Hawaii.  I have definitely found my favorite flavor of shave ice... Black Cat (grape and black cherry).  Yum!  Eli loves it too!

This doesn't have anything to do with shave ice but I loved it so much I had to share.  Eli will sometimes ask to sleep in our bed.  How could you say no to this precious little boy???

Of course Chad carries him to his room when we are ready for bed ;)

Happy Father's Day

We started off the day going to church.  Eli had attended VBS this year at church.  They had a program that morning.  It was pretty cute to see Eli at the front singing all the songs he had learned all week.

This little boy loves his Daddy more than anything.  They are best buds!

After church we hung around the house and Eli played in the sprinkler.

Chad chose Gusano's pizza for dinner.  His favorite!